英语修辞手法

1. 修辞格的含义（Definition of Figures of Speech/ Rhetoric）

Figures of speech (修辞)are ways of making our language figurative. When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal sense to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively. Now we are going to talk about some common forms of figures of speech.

2. 英语修辞格种类

修辞格(figures of speech)是提高语言表达效果的语言艺术。它能使语言生动形象、具体活泼，给人以美的享受。要翻译好英语修辞格，首先要弄清其特点、弄清英汉两种语言在这方面的异同，然后根据具体情况采用恰当的技巧进行翻译。英语修辞格种类很多，但粗略分来似可分为音韵修辞格、词义修辞格和句法修辞格。
1）音韵修辞格(phonological rhetorical devices)
  顾名思义，音韵修辞格是利用词语的语音特点创造出来的修辞手法。它主要包括onomatopoeia（拟声）、alliteration(押头韵)和assonance（准押韵、押中韵）。

Onomatopoeia 是模仿事物发出的声响的修辞手法，与汉语的拟声辞格完全相同。恰当地运用它可以使语言更加形象生动。

如：  Presently there came the click of high-heeled shoes. 高跟皮鞋声阁阁地传了过来。
    Alliteration就是在一个词组或一个诗行中，有两个以上彼此靠近的词，其开头的音节（或其他重读音节）具有同样的字母或声音；assonance 是在一句话或在一个诗行中间，有两个或更多的词具有相同的元音。前者与汉语的双声(汉语中两个或多个音节，声母相同，叫做双声，它不是辞格)相似，后者与汉语的叠韵（两个或多个音节彼此韵母相同）非常相似。 例如：

（1）Peter Piper picked a peck of picking pepper.（alliteration）

皮特.派特咽下了一口腌菜用的胡椒粉。

Its flavor wins favor. 以我茗香，赢君品尝。（以香取胜。）（茶）

Safety, Security and Simplicity. 安全，安心，实用。（手机）

Feel good, fast food. Crest whitens whites. Fresh, clean, crisp, never too sweet;

Fun, friendly, free.

（2）With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

怀着这个信念，我们能把绝望的大山凿成希望的磐石。 (assonance)

2）词义修辞格(semantic rhetorical devices)
    词义修辞格主要借助语义的联想和语言的变化等特点创造出来的修辞手法。它们主要包括 simile, metaphor, allusion, metonymy, transferred epithet, personification, hyperbole, irony, euphemism, pun, oxymoron, zeugma, contrast 等。
     A. simile，metaphor；allusion
     Simile 与汉语的明喻基本相同，用某一事物或情境来比拟另一个事物或情境。其本体和喻体均同时出现在句中，在形式上是相对应的。英语 simile 的比喻词一般是 like, as（……as）等, 汉语明喻的比喻词通常是"好象"、"仿佛"等。例如：
    They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails.
    这些人犹如街上的有轨电车， 满足于在自己的轨道上运行。

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
My love is like a red, red rose. My heart is like a singing bird; my heart is like apple tree.

 Metaphor 兼有汉语隐喻、借喻及拟物的特点，即把甲事物当作乙事物来描写。如：
   （1）Experience is the mother of wisdom. 经验为智慧之母。（隐喻）
   （2）She is shedding crocodile tears. 她在掉鳄鱼眼泪。（借喻）
   （3）Mark my words, the first woman who fishes for him, hooks him.

瞧着吧，不管什么女人钓他，他就会上钩。（拟物）

(4)The world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and entrances. 整个世界就是座舞台,天下的男男女女不过是演员。他们有上场,也有下场。
 Sam is a pig.(Sam is like a pig). Sam devours books. The teeth of the saw; the tongue of the shoe;

A sea of troubles; a rain of bullets; his clothes are loud; her reply was smooth. Rabbit ears(天线)
   比喻修辞手法主要涉及形象。人们生活在自然界，有许多共同的经历和感受。比较英汉两种语言中常用的比喻，就会发现有许多惊人的相似之处，比如都用狐狸比喻狡猾，用羊比喻温顺、用钢铁比喻坚硬，常见喻体相同的还有Footnote（脚注）、 Harelip（兔唇）等。当然，比喻形象往往打上各个民族独特文化的烙印，某些英语喻体形象会让中国读者不知所云， 如英文 as wise as a man of Gotham（ "象戈丹人一样明智"） 就让人费解。其实戈丹是英国的一个村庄，相传那里的人是最愚蠢的，所以这个比喻的意思是"蠢笨无比"。类似的例子还有：
 as thick as thieves亲密无间（不是"像贼一样厚"）as old as the hills 古老（不是"像山一样老"） As light as a feather As old as hills/seas; as hungry as a wolf; as sly as a fox; as thick as a wall; as proud as peacock; like mushrooms; as thin as a lath；Light as a breeze, soft as a cloud. (广告语；)

   The ship plows the sea. 船在乘风破浪地前进。（不是"船在犁海"）
  Allusion与汉语的暗引相近似。其特点是不注明来源和出处，一般多引用人们熟知的关键词或词组，将其融合编织在作者的话语中。引用的东西包括典故、谚语、成语、格言和俗语等。英语引用最多的是源出《圣经》故事以及希腊、罗马神话、《伊索寓言》和那些渊源流长的谚语、格言等。例如：
   （1）Grammar may be his heel of Achilles. 语法是他的大弱点。（Achilles 是希腊神话中的一位勇士。除了脚踵处，他身上其他地方刀枪不入。）
   （2）The project is an economic albatross from the start.
   这个项目从一开始就是一个摆脱不了的经济难题。(Albatross 是英国诗人柯勒律治的《古舟子咏》中的信天翁，它被忘恩负义的水手杀死后， 全船陷入灾难中。)

You want your pound of flesh; sword of Damocles;
   B. metonymy（借代）; transferred epithet(移就)

Metonymy（借代）、synecdoche（提喻） 和antonomasia（换称） 都是不直接说出事物的本来名称，而换用另一个名称或另一个说法。它们大体上相当于汉语的借代（分为旁借和对代两类）。如Crown（王冠）可喻指君主、王权、王国政府等；doll（玩具）可喻指姑娘、宝贝等。再如：
   （1）The baby was brought up on the bottle.
    这个婴儿是喝牛奶或羊奶长大的。（metonymy──用奶瓶代奶）
   （2）Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest.

某个沉默的、无名诗人也许在此长眠。（antonomasia──用米尔顿代诗人）
Young men are suggested to read Shakespeare. 年轻人应该去读一读莎士比亚。

He is another Sherlock; He is a regular Sherlock Holmes; He is Napoleon of the crime.

The curtains goes up ---- Beijing Permits investment all along its coastline.

Both sides are looking for a virgin birth, a deal with no obvious father.

India will become a Tower of Babel.

There is something rotten in the state of Europe.

(There is something rotten in the state of Denmark.)

Solomon—a wise man; Judas --- traitor; Waterloo----a utter defeat; Nero --- a tyrant: Uncle Tom--- a Negro who compromises and conforms with the whites; Daniel --- a wise and fair judge; Don Juan (唐璜)—a philanderer(调戏妇女的人);Prometheus unbound; Muses; Damon and Pythias;

Red tape; the pen is mightier than sword; He succeeded the crown; He is the pride of the school; The cattle boils; The hall applauded; the whole city went out; those blue eyes walked into the office; she gave her heart to the young man; Uncle Sam; the Pentagon; Hollywood; the White House; the Downing Street; the Kremlin; Zhongnanhai; Wall Street; cutthroat; the smiling year; we need more hands; we want to see how the new faces perform; the Fleet Street;

Transferred epithet 是采用表示性质和特征的形容词或相当于形容词的词来修饰、限定与它根本不同属性的名词。这种修辞手法能与汉语中的移就基本相似。例如：
    The doctor's face expressed a kind of doubting admiration. （用"疑惑"修饰限定"钦佩"）医生的脸上流露出钦佩而又带有疑惑的神情。
  ….. but the merriest month in all the year is the merry month of May; Merry Chrismates and Happy New Year; the Grapes of Wrath; He lay all night on a sleepless pillow; Melisa shook her doubtful curls; the prison was placed in a condemned cell; A lackey presented an obsequious cup of coffee; the indefatigable bell now sounded for the fourth time; he threw a reassuring arm around my shoulders; I felt the cool support of the water; they are exchanging smiling words;

C. personification; hyperbole
    personification 与汉语拟人完全相同，就是赋予物以人的言语属性。这种拟人化的修辞手法读起来使人感到特别形象生动、富有情趣。例如：
   Words pay no debts. 空话还不了债。

How soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth, stolen on his wing my three and twenty years.

Love, free as air, at the sight of human ties, spread his wings and in a moment flies.
 Flowers by Interflora speak from heart. “茵特”之花，表达肺腑之言。

Hyperbole 与汉语的夸张完全相同，都是为了表达深刻的感受,抒发强烈的感情，通过故意夸大事实来给人留下深刻的印象。例如：
   His words made my blood freeze. 听了他的话， 我的血都快凝固了。
   We were dying to death on reaching the peak. I would give the world to see you.

I had told you forty times that if you touched that jam I’d skin you.

Mary's two daughters are different in their personalities in a thousand and one ways.

玛丽的两个女儿在性格上有天壤之别

For she was beautiful--her beauty made the bright world dim, and everything beside seemed like the fleeting image of shade.

因为她太漂亮了——她的美使光灿的世界黯然失色，她身边的一切都像是瞬间而逝的烟云。（恰如其分地道出她的美）

It's a crime to stay inside on such a beautiful day. 今天阳光明媚，躲在家中，实在是罪过。

When I heard the news, each hair on my head seemed to be standing on end.

当我听到那个消息时，头上的每根头发都好像倒竖了起来。

We are 200% sure that it’s safe. I haven’t seen you for ages. She shed floods of tears. I beg you a thousand pardons

The wave ran mountain high. Blood streamed down from his forehead. The cost mounted astronomical figures.

I was scared to death. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese medicine. Thanks a million!

We’ve hidden a garden full of vegetable where you’d never expect. In a pie.

Her smile could heat up a nation. Her fragrance captured a country.迷魂牵魄笑貌 倾国倾城芳香

D. irony(反语); euphemism委婉；pun双关

Irony 的含义比汉语的反语广泛。它包括 verbal irony, dramatic irony, situational irony。后两种已超出一般修辞格的范畴，这里不作详细介绍。Verbal irony 与汉语反语的特点完全相同，也是正话反说，反话正说，一般需借助于特定的上下文和语境才能被正确理解。在多数情况下，irony可以译成汉语的反语。例如：
   She talked about great people as if she had the fee-simple of May Fair, and when the court went into mourning, she always wore black. ----Vanity Fair (Chapter52) 她一开口就是某某勋爵某某大人，那口气竟好象她生来就是贵族。宫里有了丧事， 她没有一回不穿孝。
   What a noble illustration of the tender laws of his favoured country! ---They let the pauper go to sleep! (Dickens)

You devils ought to search our heads not our pockets. (Gorky)

If people keep telling you to quit smoking cigarettes, don’t listen… They are probably trying to trick you into living.

 Euphemism就是用转弯抹角的说法来代替直截了当的话，把原来显得粗鲁或令人尴尬的语言温和、含蓄地表达出来。这在汉语中叫委婉语。 如在一个野外旅行的场景当中，女友对男友说 Wait a minute, I want to pick a daisy. 如果你把它翻译成“等一等，我想去摘一朵菊花”，那可就要闹笑话了，因为她说的 to pick a daisy 是“方便”的委婉语；英语中死亡的委婉说法有数百种之多：to pass away (离开)，to go to sleep (长眠)，to go to heaven (上西天) ，to be no more (不在了)，to join the majority (加入了大多数)，to go to glory expire (去了光荣的国度) ，corpse (跨了)，depart(离开), kick the bucket(蹬腿), breathe one’s last(停止了呼吸)等等“秘书”成了administrative assistant（行政助理），把保姆maid称为domestic-help（内务助手），老人被称之为“年长公民”(senior citizen)。在谈到某人失业时（out of job），常用between jobs，to be developing a new project，to be self-employed，相当于汉语的“待业”，“找工作当中”。就连屠夫(butcher)也摇身一变，成了meat technologist (肉类技术专家)，贫民窟也有了悦耳动听的叫法substandard housing(不标准的住宅)或special area (特殊区)例如：
   用sanitation engineer 替代garbage man(清洁工) 用 the disadvantaged替代the poor(穷人)
   用 industrial action替代strike(罢工)

  Pun与汉语双关一样，就是用一个词，一句话，或一个语言片段同时表达双重意思：一个是表面的，一是隐含的，并且以隐含的意思为主。恰当的运用这种手法会使语言生动有趣，达到由此及彼的效果。英语 pun 和汉语的双关语都可以分为两类：谐音双关（homophonic puns）和语义双关（homographic puns）。前者是利用词意根本不同的谐音词构成。后者是利用一词多义的特点来构成。虽然pun 和汉语双关在格式和修辞作用上基本相同，但是由于两种语言的语音不同，多义词也很难找到完全对应的词语。例如：
   What does that lawyer do after he dies?--Lie still. 那个律师死后干什么？──
躺着仍说鬼话。(注：lie 躺， 撒谎；still 安静地， 仍然)
   Seven days without water makes one week. 一个人一周七天不喝水会变得虚弱。

We must all hang together, or we shall hang separately. 我们必须团结在一起,否则我们将一个一个地被绞死。

A: I can’t bear a fool. B: Your mother could.

A：我不能忍受一个傻瓜。 B：你母亲能。

You will go nuts for the nuts you get in Nux.(坚果广告) 纳克斯坚果，让你欲罢不能的坚果。

An ambassador is an honest man who lies abroad for the good of his country.

He lies first on one side, and then on the other, and remains wide awake all the time. He lies still when he dies.

Try our sweet corn, you will smile for ear to ear. A cannon-ball took off his legs, so he laid down his arms.

More sun and air for your son and heir.

这里有充足的阳光，清新的空气，一切为了您的子孙后代。（海滨浴场）

Trust us. Over 5，000 ears of experience.

相信我们吧。历经5 000多只耳朵的检验，有着5 000多年的经验。（助听器）

Asking for More. No cigarette gives me More taste. 再来一支摩尔烟吧，它品味独特，令我难舍。

Try our sweet corn. You’ll smile from ear to ear. Ear双关：玉米穗、耳朵。

品尝我们的甜玉米吧，穗穗令你欢乐开怀。

From Sharp minds, come Sharp products. 绝顶智慧造就尖端夏普。

E. oxymoron（矛盾修辞法）; zeugma（共轭）; contrast（对比）
    Oxymoron(矛盾修辞法）与汉语中的反映辞格类似，都是将相互矛盾的概念和判断巧妙地联系在一起，以便相互映衬，突出事物的特点，表达复杂的思想感情和意味深长的哲理。矛盾修辞手法在英语中常见，但在汉语中很少见。如：sweet sorrow 忧喜参半 (不是甜蜜的悲伤)； proud humility 不卑不亢 (不是骄傲的谦卑) bitter-sweet memories, orderly chaos(混乱)

Would you have the cruel kindness to give me a quicker death? What she said is falsely true.

The job-hunting people are said to live in a laborious idleness. Make haste slowly.

His honor rooted in dishonored stood. And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true. (Tennyson)

他的荣誉根植于不名誉。而不忠诚的诚实使他似真还假。

Beautiful tyrant, fiend(cruel) angelical, 美丽的暴君，天使般恶魔，

Dove feather’s raven, wolfish ravening lamb. 长着鸽子各自羽毛的渡鸦，嗜杀成性的羔羊。

Despised substance of divinest show, 神圣仪表下的卑鄙品质，

Just opposite to what thou justly seem, 正是你公正的外貌下的对立物

A damned saint, an honorable villain. (W. Shakespeare) 该诅咒的圣徒，体面的恶棍。

It (New York) has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the haughtiest beggars, the plainest beauties, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasure of any town I ever saw. (O. Henry)

这座城市里有的是心灵最空虚的百万富翁，人格最渺小的伟人，最目空一切的乞丐，最使人瞧不起的美女，最卑鄙龌龊的摩天大楼和最令人悲哀的娱乐。这些现象之奇特，比我所见的任何城市都有过之而不及。

    Zeugma（轭式搭配法）是用一个词（动词、形容词或介词）与两个以上的在意义上不相干的名词搭配。它用词简练， 饶有风趣，与汉语的拈连在性质上完全一致。例如：
   She opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy.
   她对这个无家可归的孩子打开了自己的大门， 也打开了自己的心扉。
   At noon, Mrs Turpin would get out bed and humour, put on Kimono, airs, and water to boil coffee.

She dropped a tear and her handkerchief. (Dickens) ;

She possessed two false teeth and a sympathy heart.(O. Henry)

They had weeping eyes and hearts. To wage war and peace. Kill the man and the luggage!

…. When I and my sorrow are dust. (Dickens). I would my horse had the speed of your tongue

Contrast 和汉语的对照在修辞格上是完全相同的，就是把两个相反的事物或一件事物的正反两方面放在一起，在比较和衬托之中突出不同事物的矛盾性，例如：
   United we stand, divided we fall. 合则存，分则亡。
  Cancer is often curable. The fear of cancer is often fatal.

Do more. Work less. Once an imperial palace; now a luxury hotel.

Parody（仿拟）修辞是揭某种固定形式，如词句、语篇等，而造出的异于原形式的表达手段。如《泰晤士报》的广告语：

We take no pride in prejudice.

就是仿拟奥斯汀的名著Pride and Prejudice，再如：

Where there is a way, there is a Toyota.

丰田汽车，风行天下。

Give a Timex to all, and to all a good time. Not all mobile phones are created. Practice really does make perfect.

Britain Rues(悔恨)the Waves(Andrew Neil)----- Britain Rules the Waves

3）句法修辞格(syntactical rhetorical devices)
   句子结构上的修辞格主要是指通过句子结构的均衡布局或是突出重点创造出来的修辞手法。这类辞格主要包括 repetition, rhetorical question, antithesis, apostrophe ,parallelism 等。它们与汉语中的反复、设问、对偶、倒装,、排比基本相同。例如：
   (1) I have written in bed and written out of it, written day and night.
    我卧床写， 起床写； 白天写， 晚上也写。（repetition）

Extra Taste. Not Extra Calories. Childhood isn’t childhood without it.

立顿（Lipton）牌茶叶的广告标题：When you’re sipping Lipton, you’re sipping something special.

啜饮立顿茶，品尝独特味。

某航空运输公司的广告语：First in airfreight with airfreight first. 第一货运，运货第一。

   (2) The gods, they say, give breath, and they take it away. But the same could be said-could it not? 人都说老天爷把气赐予生灵，又把气夺走。不过这话用在小小的逗号上， 何尝不是如此？(rhetorical question)
    (4)Up went the balloon into the cloudless sky. 气球腾空而起， 飘入万里无云的蓝天。(anastrophe)

Antithesis: (对偶） It is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve emphasis. For example,

Speech is silver; silence is golden. Man proposes, God disposes. 谋事在人，成事在天。

Not that I love Caesar less, but that I love Rome more. （揭示Brutus谋权篡位的狼子野心）

To err is human; to forgive, divine. Deeds show what we are; words, what we should be.

It is better to live like a spendthrift(挥金如土) than to waste like a miser（吝啬鬼）.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of believe, it was the ear of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the Spring of Hope, it was the Winter of Despair. we had everything before us, we had nothing before us. We were all going direct to Heavon, we all going direct the other way. (Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities) (antithesis)

His fees was high; his lessons were light; he is the highlight (精英) of the university. ( O. Henry)

Crafty men condemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them. (Bacon)

We can all swim together, but we can also all sink together.

I deserve neither such prais nor such censure(责备). (J. Austen: Pride and Prejudice)

As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortune, I rejoice at it; as he valiant, I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him; there is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition. (W. Shakespeare)

Climax: (渐进） It is derived from the Greek word for "ladder" and implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity, like the steps of a ladder ascending evenly.

For example, I came, I saw, I conquered.
 
Anti-climax or bathos: (突降）It is the opposite of Climax. It involves stating one's thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to light or frivolous.

For instance, But thousands die, without or this or that, die, and endow(赋予) a college, or a cat.

英语修辞手法